Eurosceptics – enemies or a necessary part of European integration?

by Petr Kaniok,

Abstract

Although it has been an important part of the academic discussion for more than 10 years, Euroscepticism (especially in connection with party politics) has not been so far adequately defined. The widely accepted definition given by Taggart and Szczerbiak, who has divided Euroscepticism between its “hard” and “soft” version, suffers from several weaknesses as the whole conceptualization lacks the counterpart of Euroscepticism (pro European attitude) as well as the definition of EU statehood (the EU as a polity). Thus, almost every critique against the current form of European integration is labelled as Euroscepticism. This approach, widely present both in political and scholarly discourses, is built upon the implicit conceptualization of the European Union as a static and finite actor. The paper challenges this conceptualization of Euroscepticism and through a detailed analysis of the current “state of the art” offers a different perspective where the conceptualization of Euroscepticism is a consequence of previously stated standards concerning the pro-European stance and the EU polity.

published in Paper
ABSTRACT
PAPERS
REVIEWS
CALL FOR PAPERS

  Site Meter

Indexed in:

  • Social Sciences Citation Index
    (ISI Thomson Reuters)
  • IPSA
  • GESIS
  • CIAONET
  • EBSCO
  • CEEOL
  • EPNET

International
Advisory Board

  • Alina Mungiu-Pippidi (chair) Hertie School of Governance
  • Larry Diamond Stanford University
  • Tom Gallagher University of Bradford
  • Alena Ledeneva University College London
  • Michael McFaul Stanford University
  • Dennis Deletant Georgetown University
  • Helen Wallace London School of Economics and Political Science

Editorial Board

  • Claudiu Tufiș
  • Bogdan Iancu
  • George Jiglau
  • Ingi Iusmen
  • Gabriel Bădescu
  • Andrei Macsut
  • Laura Voinea

Published by:

Societatea Academica Romana